The title Rinpoche, translated as "precious one," recognizes the highest level of academic and spiritual accomplishment within Tibetan Buddhism, achieved through many years of rigorous study and meditation practice.Khachab Rinpoche, an American citizen since 2011, is the leader of Younge Drodul Ling, a Buddhist organization based in Burlington, Vermont that is devoted to the non-sectarian and non-political teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Younge Drodul Ling's main mission is to promote the many benefits of meditation and Buddhism to anyone with the desire to learn and practice them.Younge Drodul Ling hosts events and programs throughout the United States, as well as in Chile, Hong Kong, Australia, Nepal and India. Dekyong Lhamo, president of the Younge Drodul Ling Board of Directors and a student of Khachab Rinpoche for nearly a decade, has this to say about Khachab Rinpoche's arrival in Vermont: "Rinpoche's experiential knowledge of meditation can help many, many people learn to relax and enjoy their lives. His teachings are so practical, that one does not even need to be a Buddhist to benefit from many of his methods."Khachab Rinpoche began his life in Eastern Tibet. While still a young boy, his family re-located to Dolpo, Nepal where he grew up herding sheep and yak on the country hillsides. At a very young age, he was recognized as a "Tulku," or re-incarnation of a great meditation master, and his formal training, lasting over 25 years, began. Khachab Rinpoche would go on to study and practice in all of the five main Tibetan Buddhist traditions: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug, and Bön. He is highly respected by the Dalai Lama and many other great masters for his accomplishments.Beginning as a young teenager, Rinpoche studied at Ganden University in South India, achieving the academic title of "Geshe" (PhD equivalent). Among the two thousand students that started in his class at Ganden in 1974, only sixty would complete the training. Students were expected to be able to spontaneously answer any question posed to them on philosophy, grammar, math, medicine or astrology.Following the awarding of his Geshe degree, Khachab Rinpoche continued his meditation training at the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim within the Kagyu lineage. Here he completed a three year, seven month meditation retreat whereby participants were expected to engage in meditation at all times. Afterward, Khachab Rinpoche then went on to study the Dzogchen teachings of the Nyingma and Bon traditions for another decade in Nepal, spending much of his time in meditation retreat.Khachab Rinpoche's teachings embrace the Rime tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Established in part by the nineteenth century scholar, Jamgon Kongtrul, Rime represents elements of all of the Tibetan Buddhist traditional schools of study and meditation practice.When asked why he chose to re-locate and continue his teaching from the Green Mountain State, Khachab Rinpoche offers, "The people of Vermont have very open minds, but like many people throughout the world, they are struggling in these times and I would like to share with them my experience and knowledge gained through my Buddhist practice."Younge Drodul LingP.O. Box 5113 Burlington, VT 05402(802)488-5011